When Mark booked our tour for Walvis Bay, one of the options of the tour was to visit an orphanage, which we all agreed would be a good experience. Knowing that was in the plans we all donated some money, along with others on the ship who found out about our visit, to buy some things for the kids. Mark got their ages so we determined to get backpacks for each of them to fill with a few simple items like a notebook, pens, pencils, a pair of sunglasses, a hand cranked flashlight, some candy, and a few other small things. Each backpack was labeled with a child's name. We also purchased some toys and games for all of them to share while we were in India after getting more cash donations.
Royal Caribbean was amazing about helping us, providing space where we could fill the backpacks, a washing machine size box to store everything in for a couple of weeks, then taking care of the customs declaration paperwork and any fees needed to get the box off the ship, as well as taking it to where Herman, our guide, had a trailer for us to load everything into. He had been so touched by our efforts he paid for the trailer rental himself.
After our visit to the Mondesa Open Market we were off to Tears of Hope Orphanage for a visit. We had had to wait to go until the older kids started coming home from school since we were all excited to be able to spend time with as many children as possible. When we arrived, two of the older kids were there to greet us at the gate as we then walked past this immaculately cleaned and raked play yard. You'll notice though that there were no swings up on the swing set. That was going to change soon.
We brought everything in and put it in the kitchen, waiting for a few more children to return before handing out the backpacks.
The smaller ones were a little leery of us to begin with, not too many smiles.
You did however, see a hug smile on the face of Mama, Naftalina Mauha, who has been watching over other people's children since she was just 17, really a child herself. At age 65, she has lost track of the number of children she has provided a family for over the years, but not their names or faces. She has been and is an HIV/AIDS counselor, whose concern for the children she saw impacted by that disease led her to open Tears of Hope in 2007 as a registered welfare organization. She currently provides a loving home for 18 children, from the ages of five months all the way up to 24. The older ones stay on because this is home, this is family. Many of the children she has cared for have had health issues over the years. Thankfully, none of the children here now have the AIDS virus, although one of the girls struggles with epileptic seizures. The older kids help look after the younger ones, they all tease and interact with one another like brothers and sisters. It was a joy to watch.
After Mama shared her story with us I was quick to take the baby from her!
Shari kindly took this photo of me holding him even though I picked him up while she was waiting to hold him. 💙 I claimed "oldest grandma" privilege! Is there such a thing? He was sweet and cuddly, it did my heart such good to be able to snuggle him for a few minutes.
Of course there was an adopted dog as well. He had no qualms about making friends with any of us, especially given a scratch or three. They were on the lookout for a companion for him as he had recently lost a canine buddy.
I didn't make Shari wait too long to get her turn to hold the baby.
Jane got a turn with the baby as well, pretty much everyone did and it was lovely to see them all in that light.
Since all our communications had been through Herman, and Sweetmans had only met him the day before we got there, we weren't totally sure what conditions to expect at the orphanage, honestly, we wanted to make sure everything was on the up and up. In retrospect we probably would have purchased less and donated the cash but hindsight is always 20/20.
Mark is now working on a way to make cash donations directly to Mama's food or pharmacy fund. If there's a way to do it he'll figure it out! We've had several people on Serenade donate money since we got back and they heard our story. There are a lot of good hearted people in this world.
The kids were excited with their backpacks and had fun opening them
The sunglasses that were donated by two sisters on the ship were a huge hit with the kids!
This is Precious, and that she was!
A brand new soccer ball/football
was a hit with the older boys.
This is five-year-old Blessing. It took a few minutes before she would even give me this fake smile. She was really interested in seeing what was in her backpack.
You can see she was starting to warm up in this photo,
and then eventually her whole face lit up! She was adorable.
Precious turned into a little diva,
and Esther just might start a journal.
Karl got a turn with the sleepy little baby,
and I started a game of Trash with Esther,
and Marvin.
He eventually beat the two of us, but Esther was a close second. They enjoyed the game enough that we started to play again.
The little ones stuck by Jane and showed off their writing skills. I was amazed at how good their handwriting was.
I handed these two my phone and they took a few selfies.
Esther and her glasses had me laughing.
LeaAnn got to try on Precious' glasses AND hold the baby!
Seeing Steve get a chance to hold the baby did my heart good. He said he never really got to hold his own grandchildren as babies.
You'll notice in this picture that it was just Karl and Chuck working on the puzzle, the kids had all disappeared, which made us laugh.
They came back after a bit and Cathy worked with the puzzlers to finish, then showed them where they lived and where we all came from on the world map.
Blessing had me go get candy for her from the box with the extra bag, she didn't want to open her own bag of lollipops. Smart girl!
A few more sunglasses photos
just because they're fun.
Steve found out that Mama had swings and chains but no way to connect everything so he had Herman take him to get some rope.
Then it became a group project to get the swings up and working.
It didn't take long before there were some happy kiddos
able to use their swing set again.
The two hard things at the orphanage were that our time there went much too quickly and that we had to say goodbye to this group who had captured our hearts, knowing we'd probably never see them again.
Everyone came out to give us a sendoff.
You better believe I got teary when I bid the incredible Naftalina farewell, thanking her for all she was doing. She had told us that people ask her, "What is going to happen to all these children when you die?' Her answer is "God will provide." And I believe He will.
It saddened me to hear from Herman that often his clients from the United States don't want to stop to visit the orphanage, it's out of their comfort zone.
For all of us this will be one of the absolute highlights of our journey, some of the sweetest moments we will ever know. How grateful I am for them and for Naftalina's example of Christlike love!
Wow! I am so grateful that you were able to be with these children. I am sure they felt of your love and interest in them. A few hours to remember forever!
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